Sriracha Having Its Moment

There was a time (several years ago) when I thought I was one of the few people who knew about the deliciously spicy chili sauce sriracha. But, lately, I’m thinking it’s becoming decidedly mainstream, at least among the food cognoscenti (and deservedly so).

In fact just a couple of weeks ago it was the focus of anarticle in the New York Times, and yesterday on Mark Bittman’s blog, Bitten. I’m sure if Martha Steward hasn’t featured it on her show yet, its just a matter of time and I fully expect it to become one of Oprah’s favorite things.

Sriracha has roughly 141,375 fans on Facebook, while mayonnaise has 3,843 fans and mustard has a paltry 3,034 fans. Not sure what this means (market research people?) but, clearly Sriracha has a big following!

I am also a fan of the chili garlic sauce Huy Fong Foods makes, it definitely deliver more in terms of texture and if you are a garlic fan like me (which has a decent

Sriracha's More Complex Brother

Facebook following as well) this might be your sauce of choice. But, the squeeze bottle IS super convenient…

In terms of nutrition, both sauces are low calorie. One teaspoon has roughly 5 calories and 100 milligrams of sodium. Even if you are a die hard hot sauce fanatic, you probably would not end up using much more than a teaspoon per serving.

I’ve also mentioned before the potential health benefits of capsaicin (see Huevos Portobellos), which is the active ingredient in chili peppers, and may promote increased metabolism (i.e. weight loss). The jury is not out on whether this effect actually exists or is large enough to produce results, but, I do think there is also something to the fact that when you use something so spicy, you may end up eating less on account of the numbing sensation that occurs.

In any event, Sriracha is a tasty, low calorie condiment, and I personally use it at least one meal per day. I can’t drink soup without it anymore, and it defintely wins hands down over Tabasco (a former favorite).

Have you ever tried Sriracha? If so, what’s your favorite way to use it?

Use it on pretty much every thing I can get my hands on, great n soups(obviously), that was my gateway drug, now I love it on salads, pizza, pasta, lunch meat, tortilla chips, eggs, hamburgers, and soo much more. Its crazy, but I will find myself squirting it on strips of lettuce because I just can’t get enough of it!

When making home made popcorn try putting the Sriracha in the oil with the kernals. When they start popping the spice will be absorbed and it makes for a perfect snack. One draw back is that it tends to burn easy so be careful.